Sophia's Revenge
by David3
Summary: The aftermath of A Power on the Rise Series... PLEASE review


"You're sure about this, Tanya

"You're sure about this, Tanya?" the president asked.

She shook her head in impatience. "Of course, Mr. President. I'm no freeloader; I'm a soldier."

"A soldier earns vacation, though…"

"Don't you think I took a long enough one already--" she started angrily.

The president rolled his eyes and rubbed his forehead. "There'll be no more of that, Agent. Are you ready for duty?"

"Yes, sir." Tanya flashed him one of her "thank you" smiles, packed up her firearms, and headed for the door. She tossed her head once she was outside. _How long has it been since I've been outside?_ she thought to herself. Wasting no more time on idle thinking, she headed straight for the helicopter pad.

"Hello…I'd say we've got some first-class cargo, huh, Bob?" the captain of her transport cheekily asked his co-pilot.

He learned his lesson when he regained consciousness with a very black eye.

"Will the weather affect this launch any, co-pilot?" Tanya asked, for it had started raining once they began setting the plane up for launch.

"No, it shouldn't, Agent. It looks like we're ready for liftoff."

"Great. Take me to Finland; the Allies need to break the Soviet stranglehold on Helsinki. The president feels like he needs my military expertise on this assignment." She produced a horrible imitation of the president's voice for the last part of the sentence.

"Hyvä."

"What?"

"You're going to have trouble going to a country if you can't speak the language, Agent." the co-pilot said, smirking.

"I'm not on a publicity visit, soldier--I don't care if all they can do is shake their heads 'yes' or 'no' at what I say, as long as they get it done."

He shook his head. "If you say so. T-30 seconds to liftoff…"

***

2 brown orbs burning with hatred surveyed the helicopter taking off with binoculars. Watching it take off, her hands were clenched so tightly in anger they actually bled.

"She has escaped, Yuri!" she angrily hissed in her comm. device.

"That is but a minor setback. You will have her--I promise."

Clicking off the comm. device, the figure stalked away.

***

"We were lucky to get down there alive, Agent!" The captain said with a pale face. They had briefly crossed Russian airspace, and the experience wasn't a good one. Twice flak tracks and cannons had almost shot them down.

"Ah, it's just part of life, soldier. Action, adventure--that's what you get when you join the army." The captain and co-pilot gaped at her. They couldn't understand how she kept her spirits up in a time like this.

"We're approaching the pad now, Agent. ETA is 5 minutes and counting." Once they got a closer view of the base, Tanya whistled in surprise. It was in the process of being overrun.

"Time to get moving, boys. Don't you give me that look--you think that the Reds will let you two live if you're hiding in a helicopter? Here you go," she handed them each a machine gun, "and try to shoot the bad guys." She winked at them and hopped out of the landing helicopter. Beleaguered troops cheered as she made her entrance.

"Boy, do we need you! They've kept up a steady flow of Tesla troops and conscripts--" He was cut off by the sound of Tesla energy contacting one of his front line soldiers. He gulped and was about to continue when he saw Tanya squinting at something behind him. "What is it?" She raised her gun and shot.

The officer surveying the battlefield almost dropped his binoculars. "You hit that thing right in the face from 100 meters off!"

Tanya blew on the tip of her gun and put it back in her jacket. "All part of being an Agent."

The guy that was talking before looked around uncomfortably. "Uh…as I was saying--" He was interrupted again when the pilot and co-pilot of Tanya's helicopter burst in the door.

"We're never got any ammo, Agent!"

Tanya gave them a sideways look. "Give me that," she said, taking the guns. Abruptly, she hid her mouth to keep from smiling. "You idiots! You're supposed to _load_ the gun before you try shooting it…hey, what happened to the powder?" They looked away, embarrassed. She shook her head in disbelief. "I don't believe it. I really don't--" She stopped when she saw the man that she had been talking to suddenly lean forward. Upon closer examination, she could tell a sniper had shot him.

"Get in the back, now!" she whispered frantically. "And turn off the light!" _No silhouettes to shoot at_, she thought. "Give me the binoculars!"

Looking into them, she could see nothing except for a rainy battlefield. _This isn't working!_ After thinking furiously, she had an idea.

***

__

This one's smart! the Soviet sniper thought as he watched the light's go out of Tanya's tent. _Ha!_ he thought triumphantly as he saw a glint off of some sort of lens. _Idiot. Trying to snipe the sniper._ He aimed his rifle at the girl and fired.

Meanwhile, heart racing, Tanya threw herself backward from the spot she'd been in before in a matrix-style fashion. _Oh, sh--_ The sniper was good. He had anticipated her actions and corrected. Her left leg was bleeding profusely. _But not good enough!_ "Hand me the M-80 flare shells!" she whispered through clenched teeth. When they only gave her confused looks, she beat the ground with her hand and said, "The ones with the yellow coverings!" When they complied, they shot horrified looks at her leg and then looked away. She ignored them. _Take that!_ she said, firing the flare.

Now it was the sniper's heart's turn to be racing. When he heard the faint hissing noise, he knew something was wrong. He risked looking up over his cover, and as he saw the flare approaching him, he silently congratulated whoever was in that tent.

***

As the sniper exploded into flame, it was all Tanya could do not to jump up and cheer. Remembering the condition of her leg, she turned to her pilots and managed a grin. "Now that, fellows, was action at its best." Without another word, she fell unconscious.

The 2 pilots frowned at each other in apprehension. "Damn, Bob, I need a drink!"

"I need one too, but what we need the most is a medkit." Bob looked worriedly at Tanya.

"She'll be fine--she's probably been through worse. Either way, you're right. She does need help."

"Let's go!"

"Well, Bob, we don't want the enemy to capture her while she's unconscious, do we? I'll stand guard with the gun until you get back." He loaded the gun meaningfully.

"Ok." It was only after walking in no apparent direction for about a minute did Bob realize the Captain's suggestion. _What a coward!_ he thought angrily to himself.

"Hey, you! What're you doing here? State your name, rank, and position immediately!" a soldier yelled at him.

"Umm…I'm not a soldier. Do you know where the medic is around here? You're agent had a…confrontation with a sniper and came out injured."

"You mean Tanya's finally here? That's good news, soldier!"

"I told you, I'm not a--"

"Jeffreys! Get over to this one--says he's got a wounded agent on his hand."

"Yes, sir!"

__

That's a doctor? Bob thought skeptically to himself. _Looks more like a janitor!_

"What's wrong with the outfit, guy? Got a problem?" the medic asked rather menacingly.

"Never mind that. Your Agent is wounded and needs your help."

Jeffreys snorted and said, "Huh. Believe me, guy, if she were _my_ Agent, I wouldn't be a second-rate medical officer on the front lines!"

They said nothing until they reached the tent. "Uh oh. Looks pretty bad," Jeffreys said upon looking at Tanya. "Hand me those tweezers, guy. Need to get the bullet out." After the captain started rummaging around his bag, he heaved a contemptuous sigh and said, "Oh, come on…you don't even know what tweezers are?" He reached over and pulled them out.

Things weren't a whole lot better for the next ten minutes. Once Jeffreys finished the sewing, he shook his head. "She won't wake up for a couple hours now…" he started picking through his pack. "Yes! The one thing that the army does provide is a portable stretcher." He pulled it out of the bag. Before long, Tanya was on it.

A klaxon abruptly sounded. "What was that?" the captain asked.

"That was the 'Red troops have entered the base' alarm. We've got to get her back to main base. Quick!" They started pushing the stretcher towards the cluster of buildings to their left. As soon as shots started to fire, Jeffreys got a shade paler. "Each one of you run on either side of it. We've got to run!"

100 meters away from the main gates, Jeffreys dropped to his knees. When the Bob stopped to help him up, he held up a hand and said, "Go on to the base, guy! If the Reds can shoot me, they can shoot you. Damn you, go!" He lifted up his machine gun and fired into the hills.

Reality was just setting in on Bob. Tears forming in his eyes, he clenched his teeth and ran the stretcher the last bit to the gates.

"Jeffreys is gone?" the gate master said softly. Bob only nodded his head. "At least she's here." When Bob didn't seem to understand, he continued, "Jeffreys did what all soldiers want to do--die serving their country. He understood the risks when he joined." Bob shook his head.

"Make yourself at home…"

"Bob," he filled in. On a thought, he looked around for the captain. "Did you see another person with us?"

"Yes, but he ran off into the hills before you got here."

__

Poor guy. "Let's mount a rescue operation immediately. We've got to get him out of there!"

"Wait a few hours, soldier; wait until Tanya wakes up. She can lead it." Somehow, Bob didn't mind being called 'soldier' anymore.

"She'll lead it?" Bob asked incredulously.

"Of course, Bob. She's an Agent…agents aren't stopped by shot legs."

Shaking his head in wonder, he headed down the hall to the infirmary.

***

"I have 15 Kirovs waiting for you if you need them," Yuri's voice came through the figure's comm. link.

"That won't be necessary, Yuri. I've got her right where I want her…injured and in a closed base. I will take her myself."

"As you wish."

***

Tanya was just beginning to regain consciousness. "Where's your friend?" she groggily asked.

"He got separated from the rest of us when…during a phase of our mission." Bob said carefully.

She looked at him askance. "You know the guy at the gate…"

"Bob!" Bob filled in for about the 100th time.

"Well, he was a good friend of mine. We trained in the same base. He never could kill and not hate it like I could…I'm not sure if that's a bad thing or a good thing…"

"Let's call your friend in for a drink, Agent."

"Come on, Bob…this isn't a White House press meeting--be informal. Call me Tanya."

"Eva, give me a comm. link with the gate master of this facility."

"Unable to establish connection. No one is present on the other end." Just as Bob and Tanya started to contemplate the meaning, the doors hissed open; the guards lay prostrate on the ground, blood pouring from their throats.

"Damn!" Tanya hissed, fumbling for her guns. It was too late, though. The figure burst through the door.

"If it isn't the courageous, self-righteous Tanya. It's been too long."

Tanya managed to smile weakly. "Couldn't have dropped in at a better time. Coffee--" The outstretched glass exploded into fragments. Sophia unobtrusively wiped her gun against her pants. Bob just stared up into space. _What in the world have I gotten myself into?_

"Security will have you in a second, Sophia."

"That," and she pointed to the dead infirmary guards, "is all that's left of your _security_. "I think it's time you paid a visit…a visit to a _fitful_ place. Who's your friend?" After Tanya didn't answer, Sophia shrugged and went on. "You've just condemned him to a similar fate. It's time to be going now." She headed for the door. "What's the matter, Tanya…American agents not fit enough to walk?" She shook her head in silent laughter.

With a grimace, Tanya got up out of her bed and limped towards Sophia. When Bob tried to help her, Sophia stuck her foot out and tripped her. "I hope you'll be enjoying your trip." Tanya bit her lip so hard it bled.

__

Time to be a soldier, Bob thought to himself.


End file.
